new receptionist or secretary had evinced obvious interest. Jackie knew that she had to avoid everyone if she were to be able to dress and act as she pleased.
The cost emotionally was damning at times and, when she became financially able, she purchased a fast car and took some of her emotions out on the highways. Nights she read, listened to music and sometimes drank a highball alone in her room. Since she was an only child and her parents were quite elderly, they depended upon her for partial support. They were They were only too grateful for her solitary and entirely friendless
help to question her
mode of life. True, her father worried about her sometimes; but would always put her oddities from his mind and turn to other things.
Since all mornings, Monday through Friday, were alike, Jackie probably even walked in her own footprints into the office each morning. On the Tuesday morning when everything changed she was first surprised to hear the sound of typing in the office as she neared the door. She paused, puzzled a moment, and then went in with her customary quick strides. One of the secretaries was industriously bent over her typewriter and did not look up as Jackie passed behind her on the way to her own desk. Pretending to be busily examining her papers, Jackie tried to figure out a legitimate reason for the girl's presence so much earlier than usual. There was none, as far as Jackie could tell, and the press of work was too important to worry about some flighty-headed secretary so she started working and forgot the girl entirely.
Much later, when Jackie left her last account for the day and started home, she tried to remember the girl's name. It was not until dinner, however, that she remembered the only time she had ever spoken to her. They had been introduced by Mr. Hendron, the head of the agency, about six or seven months before. Jackie wooled her mind and then remembered her name; Carol Morgon. Besides the simple exchange of introduction, she could not recall any conversation with this Carol. Impatiently she put the girl from her mind.
The next morning, and every morning after that, the girl,
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